Corporate Law: Firm Advice

This is the first in a series of posts rounding up firms’ advice on corporate law.

  • California has a new private fund adviser exemption. The Dodd-Frank Act eliminated a similar federal exemption.  California has followed suit by limiting exemption from California’s “investment adviser registration requirements for advisers to only ‘qualified private funds.’”  What are “qualified private funds”?  Morrison & Foerster has the full update in their recent client alert.
  • How standardized should credit ratings be? Not much more than they already are, so says a recent SEC study prepared for Congress as part of the implementation of the Dodd-Frank Act.  Instead, the SEC suggests efforts would be better spent on increasing transparency of ratings methodologies and performance.  Goodwin Proctor has a full summary of the study in its financial services alert.
  • What’s your number? For a breakup fee in an M&A deal that is. The size of the deal and market precedent are a good place to start. But choosing an amount in advance that will comply with courts’ requirement that the amount not “be preclusive of a true superior proposal” can be difficult. Kirkland & Ellis has advice on picking your number.